Lyons City Council Meeting Highlights 8/18/25
LYONS, Kan. — The budget hearing for the city of Lyons will be held Sept. 2, although an action during Monday’s City Council meeting was made to change it. The budget is being re-published to take care of an error in what had originally been published, and while it was thought initially the meeting date would need to be changed, but Mayor Alicia Hommon and City Clerk Bailey Saylor confirmed the hearing on the budget and to exceed the Revenue Neutral Rate will be Sept. 2 at 6 PM. The first September meeting will be on Tuesday due to the Labor Day Holiday.
The proposed budget calls for a mill levy of 54.521 mills, an increase of 2.5 mills from the 2025 levy and 4.158 mills above the Revenue Neutral Rate which is what would raise the same dollars as was raised for the 2025 budget. This will generate an additional $87,717 in revenue for the city for the next year.
Net authorized expenditures in the budget, after transfers, amounts to $12,840,238. This includes reserve funds that in many cases are restricted in how they can be used. For 2025, current projections indicate expenditure of just under $10.4 million. Each mill raises just under $21,254 for the city, an increase of approximately $677 from the 2025 budget.
In her comments at the start of the meeting, Mayor Alicia Hommon noted that in the seven months since she took office the Council had to make a lot of difficult financial conditions.
The budget includes the 4.658 mill levy for the Lyons Public Library, which is unchanged from this year. The actual mill levy that will appear on tax statements when they are sent out in November may vary, based on any valuation changes made prior to the final tax roll being certified.
A link to the proposed budget can be found on the front page of the city’s website, www.lyonsks.org.
Resolutions were adopted declaring three structures dangerous and unsafe and ordering their removal and property be made safe and secure. Two of the properties are adjoining, at 102 and 104 West Lincoln, with City Inspector Stephen Thomas saying both houses have numerous broken windows and doors and been vacant for more than 20 years, A neighbor of those properties spoke in favor of ordering demolition, describing both as “crack houses.”
The third property, at 615 East Avenue South, has also been empty for more than 20 years, and Thomas said is in even worse shape than the two on Lincoln.
Approval was given for the signing of the engineering contract with Schwab-Eaton to a CCLIP project on Grand Street, or K-14, from just south of Main to Taylor Street. The total project cost is $800,000, half of which will be funded through the Kansas Department of Transportation and half by the city, which is also covering the engineering cost. The city has budgeted funds for its share of the project cost.
The Council recognized Cemetery Sexton Martin Hartle for his 45 years of service to the city. A proclamation from Mayor Alicia Hommon said Hartle has been “a cornerstone of the City’s Workforce and has provided comfort, respect and support to the families of Lyons during their most difficult moments. To recognize Hartle’s service, the Council approved naming the street adjoining the cemetery shop in his honor.
A revised Special Event Permit ordinance was approved. The changes, which were developed by former Assistant City Administrator Tanner Faust before he left to become City Administrator in Lindsborg, sets out procedures and applications, including a new requirement that applications be submitted not less than 30 days before the event. It also adds standards for issuance, denial and revocation procedures. This also includes appeal processes and allows a waiver for the 30-day requirement if the good and compelling cause is shown.
One such situation came to the Council during the meeting, as it approved a road closure of the 100 block of West Avenue South Sunday for a Back-to-School Festival being held at The Gathering Place. City Administrator Troy Houtman said he has spoken with Police Chief Justin Holliday about this, and he had no problems with it.
The Council approved a corrected radio agreement with Rice County; to reflect this is a five-year contract rather than the one-year agreement that had been mistakenly submitted to the Council when it initially approved it.
At the conclusion of the meeting the Council held a ten-minute executive session to review applications for employment, the session also including Houtman and City Attorney Patrick Hoffman.
